Nexus Q: Google’s attempt to capture your living room

Google has worked Android into smartphones, tablets, x86 handsets, and now the company has even managed to merge the open source operating system with a high-end media streaming box. The Nexus Q is a spherical computer that harnesses media stored in the Google Play cloud to bring your media into the living room.

The Nexus Q is not an ordinary media box that blends into your AV rack. Rather, Google designed it to stand out, with a spherical shape and ring of RGB LEDs that are able to pulse and change colors in response to the music that it plays. The base is constructed of die cast zinc while the top is made of an injection molded material with satin touch coating. It has a single blue LED on the top of a rotating upper dome that is used as a volume control knob.

It is able to work with either your existing audio receiver or power a pair of bookshelf speakers on its own using a built in 25W “audiophile quality” amplifier. Other connectors include micro HDMI, micro USB, optical audio output (SPDIF), four banana plugs for the speakers, and a power port (it has an internal 35-watt switching power supply).

Using the same chipset found in the Galaxy Nexus — the OMAP 4460 — the Nexus Q is able to easily playback the movies, music, and TV shows that you are able to buy from the Google Play store. After pairing your Android smartphone or tablet with the device using NFC, you are able to control the media playback using your touchscreen. Further, a party mode is available that opens the device up to guest devices. In this mode, you and your friends can share media and collaborate on playlists from the respective Google Play applications (Movies and Music).

One of the killer features of the Nexus Q is the ability to do multi-room audio when using more than one Nexus Q. The playback can be controlled from your Android smartphone just as with a single device. This means the Q could be a real Sonos competitor for those already invested in a Google Play media catalog and Android hardware, especially once you factor in the 25W amplifier.

On the other hand, being dependent on the cloud for media is going to hold the Nexus Q back from its potential. While the Google Play Store is nice — and is where Google makes money selling media — it generally does not integrate personal media. The one exception seems to be music in that Google Play Music will stream tracks that you have uploaded to Google even if you did not buy them from Google itself. Movies are still very much locked to only those on Google Play which means no DVD or Blu-ray rips. It also means that you are not able to share personally recorded videos. Even if they are sitting on your Android phone, you will not be able to play them back on the Nexus Q — at least not yet.

Currently, the Nexus Q only support the Play services, but that may not be the case in the future. While it is unlikely that it will ever receive official support for local content (though it may be hacked in by enthusiasts much as the Apple TV was hacked to add more features), Google might add support for additional cloud services in the future. Integration for competing services like Vudu and Amazon Video on Demand is dubious since Google likely wants to see more adoption for Google Play, but the addition of Spotify or Pandora streaming radio seems plausible. At the very least, adding support for streaming the media files in your Google Drive account would allow a workaround to the problem of the Nexus Q not supporting local content.

Priced at $299 US, it is available now for pre-order and will ship in mid-July. The high price tag is likely a result of it being made in America of die cast zinc and including a high-end amplifier, making it no small feat of engineering. At that price, it will likely only appeal to serious Android enthusiasts who are already invested in a Google Play media catalog, but it could be an interesting device for college recreation centers and internet cafes to make available to people.

In the end, it is hard to judge the device without having a better idea of where Google is headed with the Nexus Q software wise. We also do not know how hackable it will be in regards to adding more features, though Google did hint that the purpose of the USB port was to encourage hobbyists to play around with the device at the Google I/O unveil. The new direction that the company is exploring with the Nexus Q at the very least offers a glimpse at an interesting future for Android in the living room.

Tagged In

That the Nexus Q is made here in America surprises me most. I hope to see more of that behavior from Google in the future.

hipnetic

“The high price tag is likely a result of it being made in America of die cast zinc and including a high-end amplifier, making it no small feat of engineering.”

Where is your evidence that it has a “high-end amplifier”? Because Google calls it “audiophile-grade”? Yet Google posts no specs for things as simple as the signal-to-noise ratio, a pretty common spec that every audio receiver manufacturer (Denon, Pioneer, Onkyo, Yamaha, etc.) lists in their specs. You state it as fact, but provide no actual testing results of your own.

ExtremeTech Newsletter

Subscribe Today to get the latest ExtremeTech news delivered right to your inbox.

Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Copyright 1996-2016 Ziff Davis, LLC.PCMag Digital Group All Rights Reserved. ExtremeTech is a registered trademark of Ziff Davis, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis, LLC. is prohibited.